Wow, I just noticed that today was the 13th. It was 1 year ago today that my lung collapsed and I was forced to quit smoking. I’ve tried many times before but the longest I ever made it was 7 months.

1 year without a cigarette. I am very proud of myself.

I still think about smoking everyday but my condition makes it pretty easy not to light up. This was the 4th collapse in 7 years and I was since diagnosed with something called “Blebs Disease”. It seems to be pretty rare and not that many doctors know what to do about them or why they form. Blebs are little air pockets that form on the lung and if/when they pop it can cause a collapse. I had surgery twice to protect my lungs from another drop, one side in 2001 and the other in April of last year. They did open chest surgery and literally took my lung out and scrubbed it with what is essentially a medical brillo pad. The doc roughs the lung up like a skinned knee and it heals against the chest wall. Not a pleasant experience at all. The blebs still pop but the risk of a collapse is much lower.

This past year has been pretty hellish. I am in pain 24/7 thanks to various after effects from the surgeries. But the real pain comes from the lungs and the constant coming and going of blebs. Every breath I take hurts. I usually keep my breathing shallow because the deeper I go the worse it gets. When a bleb pops it’s like being stabbed with a knife and then it lingers. It seems like the small ones pop all the time. During the surgery they removed 4 that were tennis ball size! Those interested can see my lung pics here. (warning graphic)

I see a pain specialist once a month and have it somewhat under control but this winter has been really rough on me. Colorado has such huge weather swings and I can usually feel it coming a day or two in advance. I love it here but I am not sure how much longer I can take it. Vegas is a consideration but the time has to be right. Maybe after my niece and nephew have graduated….

So yeah…. 1 year…

go me.

- Frank

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Bluff Blog, Poker Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.